Do You Trust Me?
by Arabian Princess
Summary: This is the story behind the mother with the baby on the pier and why she did not push Treize away and rush to her son. Written for the Innocent Bystander Challenge at The Fanfiction Archives LJ.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gundam Wing. This fan fiction has no commercial value, and I am not making any kind of profit or income off of this story or the use of characters owned by Sunrise and Bandai.

Do You Trust Me?

Sylvie Devereux, Marchioness of Celtique, brushed her hair and thought about what she could do that day. Her allowance for the month was almost spent. If she somehow happened to see Treize later that day, she should have to request for more money; she would have to send a messenger at the very least. Surely the mother of his heir warranted more money. She finished with her hair when a maid came into the room. She opened her mouth to order her to have a car readied for her, but the maid beat her and informed her Treize wished to see her.

She walked down the hall, excited and worried at the same time. Given recent events, she had not seen him often—not at all for three months now. She had assumed the first time he would call for her was at night. It appeared she was wrong. She pushed down the butterflies in her stomach as she knocked on the door, and he bade her to enter.

"This is an unexpected pleasure, Your Grace," she smiled. He looked up from the papers on his desk; he frowned for a moment, but he smiled after seeing hers. "I know you are very busy with OZ and the war, and the talk in Romefeller is…." She stopped herself, knowing to where that could lead.

"Yes? What is the talk in Romefeller?" he inquired; he folded his hands and rested his chin on them.

She felt her cheeks redden. The Foundation said many things about him recently—most of them not nice, especially about him and that colonel, Zechs Merquise. She sputtered random syllables, trying to buy time. She did not want to anger him—especially when she needed money from him.

He chuckled softly. "I know what they say, Sylvie. And, yes, I am busy with OZ right now, but I still need to take breaks…and between you and me, there is not much work at the top. My subordinates do most of the work; I end up spending most of my time smoothing out the political problems." He stood and walked to her side of the desk. "Today I will have lunch by the lake. I'm inviting you to join me."

She smiled widely, accepted the offer, and thanked him profusely for it.

"In fact, why don't you bring the children? We can have a picnic."

"Oh! That is very generous of you, Your Grace, but Hannah has her lessons today. She has fallen behind and needs the extra time. Michel has a doctor's appointment today, too," she explained.

"Hannah will be fine if she misses an hour so—I think it could even help her—and Michel can have his appointment rescheduled." She tried to protest this, so he added, "Do you not trust me?"

It was a slap in the face given the events the last time they met, and the words stung her heart. She had let him down a couple months ago, and she knew she had almost blown it—he had even said then that he was not sure if he could ever trust her again. She needed him. He was all she had (her family had basically deserted her since she had had her daughter, Hannah, when she was an unwed teenager, and they were only hanging around because Treize had taken an interest in her). If she lost him, her family would abandon her again, her funds would be gone, and she could be sure no one in Romefeller would reach out and help her. She hated being forced like this. Hannah had whined earlier that morning, and she had been firm. She hated to undermine herself with her daughter, but she would have to do it this once if she wanted to stay in Treize's favor.

"Of course, I do. You know I do," she insisted fervently. "I'll arrange it."

He smiled. "Good." A call came then, and he dismissed her so that he could tend to business.

She flew down the hall to Michel's nursery where she disclosed everything to the trustworthy nanny.

"A picnic? Today?" the nanny, Mlle Lilas, asked. She shook her head as she changed Michel into a clean set of clothes. "Changing things at a moment's notice…. He cannot be serious. Children need to stay to a strict schedule, and when he wants these excursions to appear, we need to know at least a day ahead."

Sylvie nodded. "I agree, but what can I do? He doesn't trust me since that incident, and he just started finally talking to me again last week. It took me a long time to get back to this point. I can't just let it go. I have to 'trust him' on this issue. I hate it, but what choice do I have?"

Mlle Lilas shook her head once more. "I suppose you're right."

"My membership in Romefeller was only reinstated because of him, and unlike most men, he is very good to Hannah. He doesn't care that she was born from my childish fling with a villager, and he is very good to her as well as Michel."

"I suppose you are right. It is just a shame he will not marry you. He keeps too much power this way. What if he disowns the child? What if he claims another one of his children is his heir? He is losing power, My Lady. He is infuriating Duke Dermail, and he is alienating other members of the family. He is too close to that Colonel Marquise."

"I know the talk," she reminded in a hiss. "He is too powerful for anything severe. They make take him out of power, but they will not sever all ties to him, and even without his office, he still commands a large amount of people. No, I just have to trust his judgement. I may hate it, but I cannot force him to marry me. He knows he has many depending on him; he will not do anything too rash. He keeps us in mind in all decisions; of that, I have no doubts."

"He could still disown Michel and put another as heir. You need something to ensure your position," Mlle Lilas insisted.

"If I push for anything like that, he'll see that I don't trust him, and then we will be in a real hell. I have to keep silent about this. He won't disown Michel. Michel is his only son. He only has a couple other daughters, and he never supported their mothers. That is my only assurance for now." She looked at her smiling son as he babbled in his own language. "Move his appointment. I have to go see Hannah's teacher now."

* * *

Hannah giggled as she ran on the lake's shore. She put her arms out and pretended to be a plane or a bird. Sylvie did not bother to call her daughter back. The girl needed to burn off some energy. As long as she stayed relatively close, that was all that mattered. Michel squirmed in his nanny's arms, so she had taken him, letting Mlle Lilas carry the basket holding the necessary supplies.

Hannah reached the small dock where the Romefeller members could take a small rowboat to explore the lake. She stopped once her feet touched the wood. She turned and faced the others. "Mama, when is he going to get here? I want him to take me out on another boat ride!"

"Hannah, you are not to ask him for that," she warned. "If he wants to take you out on a boat ride, he'll offer, but I don't want you asking him. It's rude."

The child stamped her foot and crossed her arms. "He still likes me even if he doesn't like you!"

She sighed. Treize would be coming any minute now. This was not the time to get into a heated argument with a small child. "Hannah, he will probably take you out, but you have to wait for him to offer first."

Miraculously, the girl accepted this. She turned and looked out at the lake, watching events on the horizon with giddiness. As a pair of ducks swam by, she jumped excitedly demanding bread. Mlle Lilas set the basket down and rummaged through to find the bread.

"Hannah, be careful! You don't want to get your dress wet," she warned as she set Michel down to enjoy being outside.

The girl took the chance to model her red dress once more. "I won't get it wet, Mama," she insisted. "Do you think he'll think it's pretty? It's my favorite!"

She suddenly spotted ducks and started jumping up and down, flapping her arms and quacking. Amidst the flapping and quacking, she started repeating a few motions and, thus, created a little dance. She did it quite enthusiastically, and Sylvie and Mlle Lilas started laughing. Hannah tripped a little, but she saved herself by grabbing hold of the skirt of her mother's dress.

"Oh, darling!" exclaimed Sylvie. "Watch your steps." She helped her daughter to her feet and noticed one presence was gone. She glanced around and saw Michel at the end of the dock, leaning over to play with a butterfly.

She called out to him. Having a vision of the babe falling into the waters flash before her eyes, she started towards him, but an arm appeared out of nowhere, restraining her. She followed it to its body and found Treize staring at their son.

She could tell he was thinking heavily on something else, but he acted as if Michel was simply playing in the mud and he was preventing her from ruining his fun. Did he hate her that much that he would allow their son to drown? He wanted her to trust him, and she knew she had to do it, but she could not bear the consequences. If she were to try to maneuver around his arm, he could simply restrain her with force. She felt the tears welling up inside of her, so she looked away, closing her eyes tightly. In her mind, she kept telling herself that he would save his son. If Michel fell, he would save him, but he would not allow the baby to fall in the first place. While she told herself this in her head, she still braced herself for the sound of a splash.

Treize said something in a lighter tone of voice, but she was not focusing on his words. She pushed down the rest of her tears and dared to look up. Her worry and fear were replaced with relief and joy as Michel taking his first steps toward her, arms reaching up, smiling widely as he always did. She rushed over and scooped him into her arms, holding him tightly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a proud glint in Treize's eye. Was he proud of her for finally trusting her, or was he proud of their son for his first steps? She found that she really did not care at all at that point.

"Everyone's worrying about this too much," Treize said, and she knew she had passed one of his random tests. Her position was secure now, whether they married or not. This relief, however, was still eclipsed by her relief in Michel's wellbeing. She continued to hold her darling son tightly in her arms until she heard Hannah exclaim, "Mr. Treize! Will you take me on a boat ride now?"


End file.
